The Mind
These verses describe the mind as it feels from inside: quivering, flighty, hard to guard, landing wherever it likes, floundering like a fish flung onto the shore. They say the discerning straighten it as an arrow-maker straightens an arrow, and that a tamed and guarded mind leads to happiness. Two verses remind the reader that the body is fragile and will one day lie on the ground. The chapter closes by saying that a wrongly directed mind does you more harm than any enemy could, and a rightly directed mind does you more good than a parent or any relative.
A note on these verses. Several verses name Māra, a figure for temptation and death; verse 41 pictures the body lying lifeless “like a worthless log”.
Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · public domain (CC0) · about 1 min · on SuttaCentral
33The mind quivers and quakes,hard to guard, hard to curb.The discerning straighten it out,like a fletcher an arrow.Explained: A mind hard to steady
34Like a fish pulled from the seaand cast upon the shore,this mind flounders about,trying to throw off Māra’s dominion.
35Hard to hold back, flighty,alighting where it will;it’s good to tame the mind;a tamed mind leads to bliss.
36So hard to see, so subtle,alighting where it will;the discerning protect the mind,a guarded mind leads to bliss.
37The mind travels far, wandering alone;incorporeal, it lies hidden in the heart.Those who will restrain the mindare freed from Māra’s bonds.
38Those of unsteady mind,who don’t understand the true teaching,and whose confidence wavers,do not perfect their wisdom.
39One whose mind is not festering,whose heart is undamaged,who’s given up right and wrong,alert, has nothing to fear.
40Knowing this body breaks like a pot,and fortifying the mind like a citadel,attack Māra with the sword of wisdom,guard your conquest, and never settle.
41All too soon this bodywill lie upon the earth,bereft of consciousness,tossed aside like a worthless log.
42A wrongly directed mindwould do you more harmthan a hater to the hated,or an enemy to their foe.
43A rightly directed mindwould do you more goodthan your mother or fatheror any other relative.